Get access to in-depth analysis: Beyond the crockpots and face painting, Carnival races serve up high-level competition, with top-ranked juniors and former D-team skiers generating minimum point penalties.

Bjoergen, the defending overall champion, took the women’s 10km in 26:14.7, beating runner-up Virpi Kuitunen of Finland by 21 seconds to extend her lead in the standings.

Hetland, a sprint specialist, was surprised. “I was hoping to make the top 10,” he said. “I never thought I’d take the (World Cup leader’s) yellow jersey with so many points.”

Hetland has won seven career World Cup sprints, but this was his first victory in a distance race.

“The sprints and the Olympics are most important, but the World Cup overall is also important this season,” Hetland said.

Sprinters surprisingly took four of the top five spots in the men’s race. Axel Teichmann, the defending overall champion from Germany, was eighth.

Hetland, runner-up behind Sweden’s Peter Larsson in last month’s World Cup sprint opener in Germany, leads the overall standings with 180 points. Larsson, who did not compete on Saturday, is in second place with 100 points.